Salzburg, Berchtesgarden & Königsee

We drove about 4 hours from Esslingen to Salzburg on Moday afternoon, arriving in Salzburg after 6pm. It was a really long drive and both of us were really tired and sort of cranky, but we went downtown Salzburg anyway to check things out. We had dinner in the old town, very good, but we just were too tired to really enjoy anything that night. The hotel, Hotel Doktorschossle, was pretty nice and we were both glad to get some rest from a long day of driving. We woke up to rain on Tuesday morning. Had a good breakfast at the hotel, and headed to Berchtesgarden (which is actually just over the German border, not in Austria like we thought..oops! :)). Clouds and rain were covering up the mountains, we were just hoping it would clear out after a while. Went to the Nazi Documentation Centre in Obersaltzburg. I'll give you a bit of history about this area we went to (I am studying history after all...). Obersaltzburg in the early 19oos used to be a mountain retreat for the rich families in the area. In the 30s, Hitler decided that he really liked it up there and once he gained power, he had a massive complex built in the mountains that was his retreat and were a lot of propaganda was shot to make him seem like a kind, charasmatic, leader of the people, all while plotting horrible things with is deputies. Hitler's Eagel's Nest that sits high above Obersaltzburg on the mountain, was built by leaders of the Nazi party as a gift to Hitler on his 50th birthday. If anyone has see Band of Brothers (and if you haven't, go watch it now...stop reading this and watch it!) you'll remember Berchtesgarden and the Eagel's Nest from the end of the film when Germany surrenders. The museum at the centre was really neat, spent almost 2 1/2 hours walking around with the English audio guide. Dad and I decided to get some food for a picnic and head over to Königsee (King Lake). I can't even describe how beautiful it was surrounded by the Alps and then walking around the lake, seeing the small farms at the base of the mountains, all I can say is that if you haven't been there, you have to go see it for yourself.

We went back to Salzburg to check out the Old Town again, more rested, less cranky and in the sunny daytime. It is a really cool old city with lots of interesting buildings and of course, lots of memorials, museums and sites dealing with Mozart. For anyone wondering, no we did not do the über American touristy thing and go on the Sound of Music tour. Actually, besides seeing the Alps surrounding Salzburg, we didn't see any of the sites from the movie (most of them were created in a FOX studio in Hollywood anyway). I really enjoyed walking around the city and taking in all the beauty that cannot be compared to anything we have back in the states.
On to München...